World's largest toy car collection replicates personal auto show

"I can get the best out of the whole world and put it in one place," says Billy Karam, a Lebanese toy car collector with over 30,000 model cars. Video by Cool Hunting

"I can get the best out of the whole world and put it in one place," says Billy Karam, a Lebanese toy car collector with over 30,000 model cars. Video by Cool Hunting

Robert Duffer, Chicago Tribune

"You cannot buy the big one so you buy 1,000 of the small ones," says Billy Karam, a Lebanese toy car collector and amateur rally driver who has over 30,000 model cars and 400 dioramas, making it the Guinness Book of World Records largest collection of model toy cars and dioramas.

Several of the dioramas depict "all my beautiful moments" during his amateur races. The Porsche fan has an estimated 7,000 to 10,000 Porsche toy cars, shelved in glass cases by model and color.

He started rebuilding his collection as a child, when his house and collection were robbed during the Lebanese civil war.

"This is a way of staying young," Karam says, "So I can get the best out of the whole world and put it in one place."